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ROMEO AND JULIET. 81 

Is my dear son with such sour company ; 
I bring thee tidings of the prince's doom. 
Romeo. What less than doomsday is the prince's doom ? 
Friar Laurence. A gentler judgment vanish'd from his 
lips, 
Not body's death, but body's banishment. 

Borneo. Ha, banishment ! be merciful, say death ; 
For exile hath more terror in his look, 
Much more than death : do not say banishment. 

Friar Laurence. Hence from Verona art thou ban- 
ished ; 
Be patient, for the world is broad and wide. 

Romeo. There is no world without Verona walls, 
But purgatory, torture, hell itself. 
Hence banished is banish'd from the world, 
And world's exile is death : then banished 
Is death misterm'd ; calling death banishment 
Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe, 
And smil'st upon the stroke that murders me. 

Friar Laitrence.-O deadly sin! rude unthankfulness ? 
Thy fault our law calls death ; but the kind prince, 
Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law. 
And turn'd that black word death to banishment : 
This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not. 

Romeo. 'Tis torture, and not mercy : heaven is here, 
Where Juliet lives ; and every cat and dog 
And little mouse, every unworthy thing,